Relaxing Breath
A good option if you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed or anxious. Aim to practice for between 3-10 minutes.
Seated Meditation with Anchor
A ten-minute seated meditation for focusing and clearing the mind.
Seated Mindfulness Meditation of Breath and Sensations
A ten-minute seated meditation for calming the mind and moving the focus away from thoughts.
Coherent Breath
A great practice for slowing down your breath rate and developing emotional balance and resilience. Practice for between 3-10 minutes
Yoga Nidra 1
A longer practice for deep relaxation. You will need at least twenty minutes for this one and it’s best practiced lying down, although you can do it seated if lying down isn’t an option for you.
Yoga Nidra 2
Loving Kindness Meditation
This practice can be used as an antidote to habitual self criticism and a negative self image. All of us have an inner critic – it is part of the experience of being a human. And to some degree that critic motivates us, and helps us to better ourselves and to keep changing and evolving. But we can also get caught in unconscious and negative self speech that gets in our way, that questions our abilities and doesn’t allow us to blossom and flourish in the way that we might. This practice helps us to cultivate a feeling of loving kindness towards ourselves, as well as towards others.
If any of the words are triggering for you feel free to change them. For example ‘happy’ could be changed to ‘content’ or ‘free’ to ‘calm’.
Body Scan
Practiced lying down, body scan it is a systematic trip around the sensations of the body. As with all mindfulness practices, the key is to approach all sensations with curiosity, compassion and without judgement. You may find the more you practice this one, the more you are able to notice and the more subtle the sensations you pick up on are. Physical sensations you might notice with the body scan include tingling, burning, pounding, shooting, prickly, numb, shaky, tight, loose, stiff, flexible, airy, dense, shaky, stinging, pulling, itchy, throbbing, dull, sharp, achy, pulsing, trembling, cutting, vibrating, sinking, achy, light, heavy, tense, relaxed, cool, warm, hot, cold, clammy, dry.
Feel free to use the feeling of the contact of the ground as a tool to keep yourself feeling grounded and safe if needs be.
Left Nostril Breath
Breathing through the left nostril activates the right side of the brain. This has a relaxing and calming effect on the nervous system. Recommended as a preparation for meditation or deep relaxation or when you are feeling stressed, over activated, anxious or upset.
Right Nostril Breathing
Breathing through the right nostril activates the left side of the brain. This has a motivating and energising effect on the nervous system which is helpful if you are feeling slugish, low in mood or lethargic. Not recommended if you are feeling worried, angry or anxious.
Orienting Towards Safety
This short seated practice helps to allow the ‘animal body’ to feel safe and secure in order to support a deeper sense of relaxation.
Softening To Relax
This short practice helps soften and release habitual tension held in the body. It is an excellent way to help prepare for a mediation or deep rest practice or before going to sleep.
Sounding
Sounding is a simple and wonderful way to release stuck energy, tension, stress and emotion.
Square Breathing
Square breathing helps to balance the nervous system and ideally leaves you feeling calm but alert.
Alternate Nostril Breath
This breath is one of the key yogic practices, designed to balance both the autonomic nervous system and the right and left sides of the brain. It can take some time to get used to as we can often feel restricted breathing through just one nostril, especially if we are used to breathing through the mouth but the benefits are great and it is worth persevering with.